Cracked screen MacBook Pro with Touch Bar

Devastated to say that my relatively new MacBook Pro with Touch Bar has a cracked display/LCD at the bottom on the screen. I'm not particularly rough with my MacBook and presumably this occurred due to closing the screen with something between the keys and the screen. I recall the moment the crack appeared, so this would have been a dust speck. Although I have AppleCare, the cost of repair is $680, since this is "accidental damage" and "out of warranty"


The new machine seems much more fragile than my older MacBook Pro's which are still going strong 5 years in!


Have others had problems with a fragile displays?

MacBook Pro (15-inch, Late 2016), macOS Sierra (10.12.5), null

Posted on Jun 26, 2017 12:01 PM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on May 15, 2018 9:56 AM

TL:DR -- Apple covered mine without charge. Only because I cited this thread for backup, took photos from start to progressive damage, and was politely insistent. The Apple store staff is probably not your friend. Call in first, and request a Senior Advisor to handle your claim.


If this happens to you, being armed with photos and this thread is your best shot at having it covered.

I opened my MacBook Pro one morning and saw a small spidery line inside the LCD on the lower right near the hinge. I had not dropped it, hadn't moved it from the table in days. Then it spread. Then it got worse. Then a second line began. My speculation: it's a fragile LCD and there was something amiss with the assembly at the hinge putting pressure on the LCD. No physical signs on the outside of the screen.
FWIW, mine is one of the "popping" 2016 MLH42LL/A laptops, right out of the box. Popping Sound, MBP 2016


User uploaded fileUser uploaded fileUser uploaded file


After seeing this thread, I called Apple to get a case number. The rep said it would be covered, and if the store genius gave me a hard time to ask for a manager. The Apple store experience was the dispiriting time suck I expected: they told me $680 for the repair and told me I had dropped it; then admitted they couldn't find any point of impact; then when pressed to give me their hypothetical scenario, finally speculated that I must have closed it with -- please clutch your pearls here -- a grain of rice I didn't notice. Come on, guys.


Know when you are dealing with unreasonable people. I returned home, called in again, had a long talk with a sympathetic rep who escalated it to a senior advisor. I sent photos while we were on the phone. The SA said they look for a point of impact, and a spiderweb, and there was none. He said he was entering notes in the case to be covered at no charge, but to be aware that the techs might disagree upon exam. Apple overnighted me a box, I overnighted it back, and they replaced the screen and overnighted it back. No charge.


Flawless top notch CS... once you get to the right person.


So -- be informed, be reasonable, be firm, and know to walk away and talk to someone else. I believe that Apple will eventually send out a quality report about the LCDs. They know about this, but they are going to stonewall when they can.


The other thing to note is that early adopters of the MBP touchbar are under the older AppleCare Protection Plan. Apple rolled out AppleCare Protection Plus in June of 2017, which includes 2 incidents of accidental damage. There are no plans to grandfather the earlier MBPs, nor to offer the Plus for a upcharge (which I would happily pay) to bring all of this model under consistent coverage. It's frustrating to be effectively punished for being an early adopter of the new models, where all of the design flaws are showing up with use.

810 replies

Jul 23, 2018 1:53 PM in response to drtimothy

It is indeed so fragile i had an assignment 9 months ago and i woke up someday with this screen and it really ****** me off i bought it from amarica and i live somewhere else it costs the double for fixing here and they arent as trusted it was really disappointing esp that the reason it stopped working properly isnt breakage or whatev i was cleaning it and obv i was too rough lol

Jul 30, 2018 11:44 PM in response to btarhini

You purposefully placed papers into a place that isn't meant to hold papers (especially with papers). It broke accidentally because you didn't know you weren't supposed to do that. That's epitome of accidental damage. Yeah, you can carry it around everywhere, but nothing anywhere promotes using a MacBook like a manilla folder. If it slips from you hand, that's called accidental damage as well.

Jul 31, 2018 12:28 AM in response to Mykii

This conversation is going no where as you are trying to justify for apple and trying to prove me wrong to defend the company. The bottom line, Apple lost me already as a customer and already lost others. I already have a friend that had the same computer and the screen broke. So your statistics are not accurate and is just your own guessing. Apple can do whatever they want and jeopardize few of their customers but I for instance work at a university that has almost 25 thousand student and more than 1000 staff and faculty. Do you think sharing my story with others encourage them to put such a big investment in a low quality machine. In the value train equation, people perceived quality is negative. Apple is exploiting people and charging them extra for bad quality. You can justify and defend all you want. I'm the customer that's been let down and I know that what I've done is not a reason to break a screen. FYI, I used to work for Dell inc and I switched to apple 7 years back because their latitude model was not as durable. And not this MacBook Pro is not durable nor reliable from a long life of experience with notebooks.

Please stop your sarcasm as it is not professional, especially, if you work for Apple or trying to get rewarded for defending their junky new MacBook Pro

Jul 31, 2018 1:35 AM in response to Mykii

I don't understand your motives and the time you've spent replying to my messages and trying to justify your point. You have labeled me as a person who purposely damages his notebooks. By the way I stopped working for Dell in 2007 but I had my first MacBook in 2011. So, no I'm not familiar with Dell new models. Latitude are business computers for heavy business use.

Again, I'm justifying that having 3 papers staples could have cause the crack but may be it cracked on its own. The notebook was not dropped, neither hit in anyway and it still look spotless but when you start it, you would realize that the screen is cracked from the internal. I had apple care when the incident happened and couple of month I tried purchasing the accidental but apple refuses to buy after 60 days. So, basically, I purchased a $2800 notebook that broke 3 weeks from using and now I have to spent another $600 to replace a screen that I know it is too fragile to carry it on to the university and use it in classrooms.

I have had Lenovo, Compag, Sony and different dell notebooks besides Apple. All worn out but none was broken. I've had my old MacBook slip one time from the classroom desk and nothing happened to it.

I do not need a heavy machine to support my behavior, as I represent normal people behavior.

I have had 3 iPhones, and currently have 2 iPads, 2 iPods and 2 MacBook Pro computers. All are functioning well except this new machine.
It has a fragile screen and people stated that for those that apple replaced for, using a different quality screen that is more durable than the one that comes on the system. Here is a point you can ignore or keep defending the company with NO MOTIVE what so ever.

If you are trying to present your self as a savvy customer or expert in notebooks and knowledgable in quality, please Apple speak for it self.

Every customer should matter for respectful companies !

Jul 31, 2018 2:11 AM in response to IgnoramusUser

Yeah, I figured that stopped working for Dell when he switched to Apple in 2011. My bad. Still, 2007 had the D800 D630 lines of Latitudes that were also amazing and used by millions-- even though many of them had Nvidia chip issues.


Well, here's the deal. I'm labeling you as someone who has accidentally damaged your device and is blaming the build quality of the device and the corresponding company for your negligence-- not someone who has purposefully damaged your computer. Purposefully placing things in between the display and the keyboard without knowing that it would cause damage still would classify as an accident, since you didn't know it would happen. So no, not labeling you for that.


Damage is damage, regardless if it was by accident, dropped, hit, smashed, accidentally closed on-- it all looks the same. If you end up closing your car door on a pen, your door or your door frame would have a mark and possibly a dent from it-- it wasn't like it was smashed, punched, axed, or otherwise abused-- and it is still considered damage.


I'm presenting myself as a purely logical user. A user that noticed that there was an action that caused a consequence. But there is no one taking responsibility for that action.


So, I'm confused now, so by you being an Apple fanboy/fangirl that has a bunch of Apple products, your disappointment in the quality of the latest product that you bought-- that was damaged by your actions-- is causing you to revolt against the company that you have spent a bunch of prior money on? Thats weird.


Consider this man:

****, I accidentally ran over a nail with my tire when I drove over a piece of wood. Freakin Lexus, you should've known that tires are susceptible to punctures by sharp objects even though I was driving on an ordinary road that I'd normally drive on without any issues in my other cheaper cars-- like my Jeep and my Impreza. I spent over $120K on this car-- and they won't replace my $600 runflat tire under warranty. Seems like other people have also run over sharp objects in their Lexuses too-- they're replacing them with more durable runflat tires now, but they're not replacing mine. This is BS. Screw them, I'm going to Acura.. Lexus has lost my business.


The motive is this-- you're funny and you're making me laugh because you sound as ludicrous as this person.

Jul 31, 2018 2:17 AM in response to btarhini

You guys are the definition of troll-- but funnily enough, it makes sense.


"Since I'm one of many cases that happened to this new MacBook with touch bar, means something is wrong with the quality of the screen." Well, based off this forum thread, you've got 531 people that have the same issue as you... and that Mykii guy does have a point since there are so many laptops made. Sounds like this: https://yourlogicalfallacyis.com/anecdotal


Point +1 Mykii for pointing this out

Point +1 btarhini for being sad and having a sad broken computer 😟

Point +1 to the world for everyone voicing out opinions.

Jul 31, 2018 2:22 AM in response to IgnoramusUser

Thanks? I think?


People need to take responsibility for their actions or perhaps lack of actions (perhaps failure to protect or something I guess), and stop blaming other people when they break their crap. I've read countless examples of, "My screen broke randomly" and there's clearly an impact point.


btarhini, just get a Lenovo Yoga or something. Maybe you'll be happy then. Do what makes you happy. Or you can keep on doing this thing and maybe get it replaced for free somehow 🙂 either way, best of luck!

Jul 31, 2018 2:34 AM in response to Mykii

Listening to you as if I'm in a court listening to the PC judge or Apple public defender. You may get a job from Apple for this initiative. You don't have to state so many examples to prove your point. I got your point from the first message and you cannot judge people behavior even if you are Tim Cook himself. It's not negligence. It's fragile new MacBook screen with manufacture defect. I'm referring my claims to a company or a manufacturing process. Machines won't get offended but you and the one that agrees with you is passing their judgment on me as a person and judging my behavior. Here is the thing, you are in no position to judge me or pass comments and conversation with another Apple fanatic about me and my behavior. Thats' just not acceptable and not cool.

Again and for the many times I'm stating again that I'm justifying ti could have been caused by the stapled papers but I didn't close the screen all the way to crack so easily. I shouldn't be justifying and proving my point to you but that's a normal reaction when someone feels that the opposing opinion is very aggressive and biased.

Notebooks cannot be compared to your Lexus cars.

I'm very gentle with my notebooks to harm it this way. You can keep stating that I cracked it but it is not the case. And yes I'm surprised of this new piece of junk by Apple after long years of experience.

Would I invest again in Apple. The answer is No. ***

I know what I did and I know for fact that nothing major should have caused the screen to crack if the quality was up to the standards. Apple will eventually admit their mistake when so many voices are raised. I know that I will not replace the screen for another fragile one. TOO scary to carry it on and move around with it. I should pamper it, so I'll attach a separate screen and use it at home as a desktop. I prefer to return it and just work with what I have.



[Edited by Host]

Jul 31, 2018 2:40 AM in response to btarhini

Oh, I didn't think I was passing judgements. I had never said that that you were dumb for doing something like that. I don't think that guy/girl said that you were an idiot for doing something like that either. Maybe he/she did. I dunno, didn't read all of it.


His/her car analogy kinda makes sense. So it can be compared to cars.


"You can keep stating that I cracked it but it is not the case." --Wait, so who cracked it?

Jul 31, 2018 2:50 AM in response to Mykii

When your Lexus battery dies, the car stops functioning or if the air-condition is not working in summer hot weather. Driving a luxury car becomes very luxurious. You fix the AC or the battery but at the moment its broken, you'll feel all the luxury feeling is gone. You got the point since you like examples.

Moreover, Cars are always subject to nails and tire problems, but if the tire is brand new, you usually get several years of warranties to replace or fix in case it breaks. Car tires are not a similar example to notebook screens.

Jul 31, 2018 3:05 AM in response to btarhini

?


Try rephrasing that example, part of it didn’t make sense.


I agree, when you pay a lot for something and it breaks, no matter how it breaks (by you or by someone else or by nature) the luxury feeling goes away.


Screens are subjected to breaking too— imagine how many people touch and tap their screens and throw them into bags and drop them down stairs and have kids step on them, open, close and slam them. may not be as much as a tire, but the idea is the same. Something happened to it. It needs to be replaced. The underlying feeling behind it is that the owner of the car feels that the tire weakness is an issue that the car manufacturer should have fixed. Much like how you feel the screen should have been fixed because it is a defect that it is weak. Maybe the car manufacturer in the process should’ve used different tires, more sturdy tires or something like how you feel that Apple should have used something different.


I don’t know where you live, but where I live, I don’t normally get a warranty against flats, just manufacturer defects like bubbling and tread separation. Punctures and sidewalk issues aren’t covered for me. I think discount tire sells a warranty if you buy tires there.


He/she made a good correlation.

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Cracked screen MacBook Pro with Touch Bar

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